Hockey Ad Network

Monday, November 25, 2013

MARLBORO, MA-Junior Bruins defenseman Kevin McKernan has committed to Quinnipiac University for the fall of 2014. The B’s assistant captain is second on the team this year in defensive scoring with 4 goals and 14 points in 27 games. This is Kevin’s third season with the Bruins top team and it has undoubtedly been his finest body of work. Things really started to heat up for McKernan, who had maybe his best game of the season last weekend at South Shore, in the last few weeks.

Quinnipiac is no stranger to the B’s top players as McKernan becomes the 5th Junior Bruin to join the Bobcats in the last 3 years (Danny Frederico, Zach Lucyzk, Matt Lemire, John DeRoche). At the moment, Quinnipiac is ranked 4th in the nation coming off a season in which they appeared in the National title game vs. Yale.

McKernan couldn’t be more excited to be joining the Pac, “Committing to Quinnipiac was an easy decision for me with the continued success of the hockey program, first class facilities and great coaching staff. Attending an excellent academic school like Quinnipiac is an honor and will fully prepare me for life after college”.

Kevin is in his sixth full season with the Bruins organization but has been wearing the black and gold since he was a mite first coming to the program on the 1994 Junior Bruins AAA tournament team. That ’94 team included players such as Frankie Vatrano (U-Mass Amherst), Kevin Duane (BU), Adam Gilmour ((BC), Ryan Fitzgerald (BC), Brian Morgan (Maine), Danny O’Regan (BU), Matt Grzelcyk (BU), Truman Reed (Providence), Andrew Doane (Brown), Sam Kurker (BU), Jake McLaughlin (Amherst), Chris Calnan (BC), Jonathan Gillies (Providence) and Ryan Segalla (UConn) to name just a few.

“Kevin is a talented, hard-working and tough player,” coach Chris Masters commented. “Since his first days with the ’93 Minuteman Flames and ’94 AAA team he has been a player that you can depend on to play smart, tough, team first hockey. It has been fun to watch his development from a youth player and then into our midget program as a bantam major (at the time the 18U team was the B’s Empire team) and through the program onto our Premier team. To see that hard work and perseverance pay off and have him head to a great school that is also a national power in college hockey is wonderful to see.”

The B’s rely heavily on McKernan’s ability as he will continue to lead as stingy a defensive group that there is in the league on their quest to capture a USPHL Premier league title. Kevin realizes that his time with Bruins has paid off, “Playing with the Junior Bruins for the past six years has been a great experience for me and one that has clearly prepared me for the next level. I’d like to thank Peter and Chris Masters, Mike Anderson and everyone else involved with getting me where I am today by passing down their knowledge and constantly pushing me to be better”.

Congratulations to the McKernan family on an opportunity well deserved.